Monday, April 4, 2011

Friday April 15th is Emancipation Day and celebrated in Washington as a Holiday. Who better than a bunch of mostly rich, bloated old white men to get that day off as a Holiday! The consolation is that it's one less day for them to sit around dreaming up new ways to separate the rest of us from our hard-earned money!

Why does Microsoft beat around the bush with their error messages and codes. Why don't they just come out and say, "HAHA enjoy spending the next two weeks troubleshooting this random issue we intentionally created."

By the way, can you send us an error report so we can laugh at you in real time?

Sunday, April 3, 2011

I caught a little of 60 Minutes tonight and they had a story entitled, "Mortgage paperwork mess: the next housing shock?" Apparently in the midst of people losing their homes left and right by being foreclosed upon by big-name banks, those banks have been losing the mortgage documents that back up the loans. Worse than that, the banks have then been obtaining replacement documents from a document mills, Docx, that are forgeries and submitting them to the Courts!

"...Banks whose paperwork was handled by the Docx forgery mill include Wells Fargo, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, U.S. Bank and Bank of America."

Now, if you or I were to commit this type of fraud, we would end up with a huge fine (probably higher than our net worth) and most likely end up doing time in prison (and not the country club type either).

FDIC Chairman Bair, "thinks rotten mortgage documents are so threatening to the economy that the government should force banks to pay into a massive fund."

"Bair's proposed cleanup fund would pay homeowners to accept a bank's ownership claim without a lawsuit. She says this could be cheaper for banks than trying to recreate the missing documents legitimately - not through document mills."

Are you kidding me? Boo Freakin' Hoo! Let's do to these banks what they have been doing to homeowners! Why should we give them a chance to recover? Do we really want these types of corporations to survive?

The executives and Board of Directors of these corporations need to be punished for allowing this to happen. Regardless of whether they had first-hand knowledge of this illegal activity, they should not only be responsible but personally liable. If someone is bringing home the sickeningly high salaries of these executives, then they should be expected to know everything that is going on in their company. They are either duplicit in the activity or incompetent. Either way, they MUST pay!

Their savings, investments, yachts, Mercedes, jewels, pentouses, mansions and any other assets should be siezed and used to pay back the victims of their corporate malfeasance! I better start seeing some executives (and NOT scapegoats) from these banks doing time in prison, and not the country club type!

Finally, let these rotten banks fail. Let's send a message to corporations and their management that if they want the high salaries then they better take the responsibility seriously or they will PAY!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

I remember the good old days when conspiracy theorists fought against our Government becoming "Big Brother." Move aside Government, I think Corporate America may succeed! Am I the only one who is disturbed by Progressive's new "Snapshot" discount promotion?

Apparently Progressive wants me to plug a device into my car so they can monitor my driving habits for six months? Then I MAY qualify for up to a 30% discount? I checked around online and Progressive stated that the drivers who do this earn an average 10% to 15% discount.

Let's break that down. If my premium is $100 per month, then I may save $10 to $15 a month, or $120 to $180 per year. I'll be rich! And all I have to do is give up my privacy to yet another obviously trustworthy insurance company that only has my best interests at heart.

I'm sure the altruistic executives who came up with the "snapshot" discount program have every intention of keeping it on a voluntary basis where drivers are only rewarded and are never penalized. I mean, big multi-million dollar American corporations are well-know for their philanthropy and always looking out for the little guy! I cannot even fathom that this could all be part of a larger agenda wherein they turn it from a discount promotion into a requirement to obtain coverage and, ultimately, an excuse to monitor every driver's every move. Of course it would never cross their minds at any point in the future to use this information against us and raise our rates for even the most minor of infractions.

How expensive does one's insurance need to be that anyone would trade their privacy for $15 a month? I cannot even come up with a comparison of what I could purchase with that to make my point. In 40 years, I suppose I may have saved enough to afford a vaction in Libya. By then it may actually be a hot spot for travel.

In case I haven't made my point, this type of privacy invasion and use against drivers is already happening.

"At the 2011 Mobile World Congress, Accenture, Vodafone, and Qualcomm promoted their partnerships with European automotive insurance groups that are using GPS technology and embedded telematics to track--and bill accordingly--driving behaviors. That level of monitoring hasn't yet made it stateside, but it's probably coming. And it raises the question, how much privacy are drivers willing to trade for cheaper auto insurance?"

Keefers

Links I Enjoy

About Me

I am no spring chicken, but my goose is not cooked yet. I've had an interesting life and learned a thing or two. Mostly, I've learned I am a flawed human being, have made a ton or mistakes and have a LOT to learn. I'm an outgoing introvert. Most importantly, I'm a smartypants!